Gun enthusiasts and professionals such as law enforcement and military personnel often engage in target practice as part of their hobby and/or training. Indoor and outdoor shooting ranges exist with man-made targets and/or target-stabilizing equipment. However, shooters often engage in target practice in other areas, such as on government-owned land authorized for such use, or private property, where no man-made targets or related equipment exists. Thus, the shooters bring their own target stands with related tools and accessories, and assemble and/or set up the targets themselves.
One type of such prior art target stand (1a) includes a fixed metal base (2) as shown in FIG. 1A. This type of stand (1a) is bulky, awkward-shaped, relatively heavy, and can damage the inside of a transport vehicle by scraping and/or denting. This type of stand (1a) also requires extra pieces such as wooden stakes (3), and tools such as a hammer to drive the stakes (3) into the vertical metal posts (4) of the base (2). Further, paper or cardboard targets (5) must then typically be secured to the wooden stakes (3) with staples (6) or the like, requiring additional tools and assembly. Finally, this type of target stand (1a) is not very stable in even mild wind conditions even if rocks (7) or weights are placed on the base (2), because the rocks (7) or weights tend to fall off the base (2) during target impact or simply due to wind or human intervention when handling the target (5).
Another type of prior art target stand (1b) includes metal stakes (8) as shown in FIG. 1B. This type of stand (1b) is less bulky, but it also relatively heavy and can damage the inside of a transport vehicle by scraping and/or denting. This type of stand (1b) also requires extra pieces such as wooden stakes (3), and tools such as a hammer to drive the wooden stakes (3) through sleeves (9) in the vertical metal stakes (8) and into the ground (10). And similar to target stand (1a), paper or cardboard targets (5) must then typically be stapled to the wooden stakes (3), requiring additional tools and assembly. This type of target stand (1b) is not very practical in areas where the ground (10) is hard, such as hard dirt, stone, or gravel.
Other known target stands suffer from similar and/or other inconveniences and burdens. Therefore, a need exists for a lightweight, small profile target stand that is stable, durable, and is easy to transport, use, assemble, and disassemble.